My lifelong best friend Brian Collins, best man at my wedding and the nicest guy I know, has written a book. Entitled “To Dream Of Flight,” it’s the picture-filled story of how man first dreamed of flying by watching the birds.

Brian’s been a nature nut and shutterbug his entire life. He looks up into trees that are apparently empty and manages to spot tiny brown birds that aren’t moving. He tracks animals as though he were a full-blooded American Indian. And he’s taken pictures so gorgeous that his work has graced calendars, Cabin Life magazine and the “Birds of (State)” series by Stan Takeila, the latter of which are in almost every book store and gift shop in the midwest.  It’s weird to be wandering in a store and come across the book containing his photos.

(I think he’s in all of those; for sure he’s in the first one.)

This looks like a great coffee table book.  I’m putting it right next to Mr. Pinsky’s classic coffee table book.